It’s the annual “week before WWDC” and the rumor mill is going wild. Newspapers and blogs publish wild rumors, people read them as real insider knowledge predictions, and this sets high expectations. Then WWDC happens, Apple releases some amazing products, and these same people are disappointed because the releases don’t match their wild expectations. Apple shares fall. Lamentations are written.

Happens every year.

History repeats itself.

You’d think we’d learn.

But it’s happening again, right now.

Here is what I know:

• Apple is the best at keeping secrets, especially about upcoming product. They are paranoid about it, not wanting to impact sales of current products until the new product is ready. (See the Osborne Effect)
• Rumor sites, pundits and the press have absolutely no idea what Apple will announce at WWDC. None at all. So they guess, make it up and create wild rumors. They present these imaginings as facts, base them on their personal expectations, previous WWDC announcements, time since product was last updated, LSD trips, the reading of entrails, or on other rumor sites (quoting the ‘source’). This is good for them as link-bait drives page-views and page-views make money and money is what the press needs. Too bad the truth falls by the wayside.
• Apple engineers have spent the last few years working on and perfecting the products that will be announced. Years, folks, not just since the last WWDC. Some are ready, some are not. Apple will only announce something that it believes is ready (with Siri and Messages being the exceptions). If the product does not meet Apple’s stringent quality guidelines, it’s not going out the door. No matter what rumor-mongers want. How can one be disappointed with a nonexistent product that does not work anyway?
• Whatever they do announce at WWDC will be amazing in the absence of wild rumor expectations. We should appreciate the time and effort they put into making real products instead of berating them for not meeting magical made up make believe merchandise.

So do us all a favor folks, treat the pre-WWDC rumor barrage as just the annual “lets make stuff up” circle-jerk and keep your mind clear for WWDC.

Apple engineers deserve it.

And you won’t be disappointed.